Susitna River Personal Use Salmon Fishery
Permits & Regulations
Susitna River Online Permits & Reporting
Online Salmon and Shellfish Permits and Harvest Reporting - More Info
Susitna Regulations
Season: July 10–July 31. Open to fishing only on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day.
Open area: Between ADF&G regulatory markers located approximately 1 mile downstream from Susitna Station, downstream to ADF&G regulatory markers located near the northern tip of Bell Island/ Alexander Creek cut off. Dipnetting from a boat or from shore is permitted in the open area.
NO RETENTION of king salmon is allowed. Any northern pike caught must not be released back to the water alive.
Online Harvest Reporting is Required
All Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon Fishery permit participation and harvest reporting must now be completed online through the ADF&G harvest reporting webpage.
- Online reporting will be required regardless if you purchase the permit through the ADF&G online store or through a vendor.
- Returning permits by mail or hand-delivery is no longer an acceptable means to report after 2021.
Harvest and participation must be reported online no later than August 15th, even if you did not use the permit, or if you did use the permit but did not catch anything.
To report online, enter your last name, permit number, and select Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon Permit for the appropriate year.
- If you don’t have your permit number available, you can look up your permit on the webpage.
- If you have questions about online harvest reporting, please contact your local ADF&G office.
Failure to Report and the Loss of Future Fishing Privileges
Even if you did not use the permit, and even if you did use the permit but did not catch anything you still have to report.
Beginning with the 2022 fishing season, the penalty for failure to report Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon Fishery participation and harvest online by the August 15th reporting deadline is the loss of personal use fishing privileges in 2023.
Permit holders who fail to report will be denied a permit for the fishery in the year following the failure to report.
To help you remember timely harvest reporting, be sure to provide a valid email address when obtaining your permit so that you will receive a reminder email near the end of the fishing season.
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SAMPLE PERMIT
**If you did not catch any fish, put the day you went fishing, select where, and write zero's for quantity.
To participate in any personal use fishery, you must be an Alaska Resident, and possess a valid Sport Fishing License or ADF&G senior license or ADF&G Disabled Veteran's License. An Upper Cook Inlet personal use permit is required and can be obtained at the ADF&G online store, from private vendors, or at Fish & Game offices.
Personal use permits are household permits
This means that only one permit is required per household. However, all participating members of the household who are 18 years old or older must also have an Alaska resident sport fishing license, ADF&G senior license or ADF&G Disabled Veteran's license to participate, and must be named on the permit.
Permits must be filled in each time you fish
You must record the date, location, and harvest by species each time you fish. You must fill in this information even if you did not catch any fish—write "0" in the space provided for harvest.
Bag Limits
The total yearly harvest from all the Upper Cook Inlet personal use salmon fisheries (Kenai, Kasilof, Fish Creek, and Susitna River) is 25 salmon and 10 flounder for the permit holder and 10 salmon for each additional household member. The limit is combined for all four fishing locations.
These are household limits, not a daily limit, or a limit per fishery.
Personal use salmon are required to be "marked"
By regulation, you must "mark" salmon harvested in a personal use fishery in which a permit is required by clipping both tips of the tail fin. Scissors or shears are the best way to cut off the tips of the tail fin.
The salmon must be marked before the salmon is concealed from plain view, such as put in a cooler, or before the salmon is transported from the fishing site, such as with your vehicle. Failure to mark the salmon is a violation, and may be subject to fines and loss of future personal use fishing privileges.
